HOCKEY GM ADVICE

Last night against the Vancouver Canucks, the Washington Capitals star center Nicklas Backstrom reached a very impressive milestone of 600 assists, and then adding an extra to make it 601. Backstrom was a 4th overall pick in the 2006 draft. Former GM George McPhee sent all his scouts on a world wide mission to find the perfect center to play with Ovechkin. And well, its safe to say they found him. Backstrom is a major reason that Ovechkin has been able to preform at such a high goal scoring rate over the last 12 years. Backstrom is an assist machine, and has had 8 seasons with 50 or more assists. He has also reached the 100 point club once!

Backstrom for a long time was overshadowed by Ovechkin, but has recently since being put on his own line has become known as one of the best two way players in the National Hockey League.

With Backstrom’s 601st assist last night, he is currently leading his draft class in assists by 130 assists over Claude Giroux, and leading in points by 63 over Phil Kessel (who has played 97 more games). Those are some pretty elite talents that Backstrom is beating.

With 601 assists he is currently tied for 86th overall with Glenn Anderson who got to ride along with Wayne Gretzky for a majority of his career. Backstrom currently operates at .73 assists per game, so where can Backstrom end up on the all-time list by the end of his career? Backstrom turned 30 this year, so lets argue he plays until he is 37 and played an average of 70 games per season, for the next 7 years, thats 490 games. With him turning 30, his numbers will most likely begin to decline, so over his next 7 years, lets argue he can maintain a .5 assist per game, down from his .73. That would be an additional 245 assists giving him a grand total of 846 career assists. That would end his career in 26th place, right between Henrik Sedin and Bobby Clarke. Also putting him well into the top 50 for points as well.